Facing Legends
by ShadowRunner31
Summary: Ash is frustrated after loosing the Sinoh League, after doing nothing for weeks he decides he needs to take on some special training in order to not suffer a similar loss. But the training may just have some unexpected consequences
1. Chapter 1

The sun beat down on Pallet Town in the Kanto region. Bird pokémon flew over the houses and trees, the young children ran through the neighborhood playing with their family pokémon. The whole day was radiating simple happiness and peace, for everyone except one person, Ash Ketchem. Ash was lying on a hill under a tree near Professor Oak's lab, he had his hat pulled over his eyes, and if a Lucario had been within a hundred feet of him they would have turned around because of the negative emotions in his aura must be emitting. Pikachu sat next to Ash looking at him sadly, Ash had been like this for weeks, ever since he had returned from Sinoh.

Pikachu and all of Ash's other pokémon had spent two happy weeks with Ash after returning to Pallet, but then Ash had fallen into a slump. After traveling through Sinoh and taking on eight gyms Ash had taken on the Sinoh league gotten into the top four only to be beaten before even taking out two of his opponent's pokémon. Delia (Ash's mother) and Prof. Oak believed that Ash was also upset about having to leave his friends, as Dawn had decided to stay in Sinoh to plan her next move, and Brook had returned to Pewter City and planned to begin studying to become a pokémon doctor. Unfortunately for everyone all Ash had been willing to do lately was mope under a tree on a hill.

Ash didn't blame his pokémon or himself for their loss, instead he blamed his loss on the only thing he was able to think of, unfair advantages. His opponent had simply had an unfair advantage, Ash told himself, after all how many people came to tournament with pokémon considered to be legendary in their party? It simply wasn't fair, it wasn't as if many people had experience battling these pokémon including Ash, so he was at a disadvantage to begin with. After a few weeks Ash had managed to convince himself that it was only because his opponent had an unfair advantage that he had lost, his mild disappointment had turned to anger. Why in the world would pokémon of that caliber even be allowed in these tournaments? Researchers even theorized that these pokémon were possibly responsible for helping form the planet, and Pokémon League officials actually allowed trainers to enter tournaments with them.

"A Darkrai and a Latios," Ash muttered angrily to himself, "What else did that guy have on his team? He probably had a Latias, a Cresalia, a Heatran, a Ho-oh, heck the guy probably had Mew on his team." A few times Ash had even thought that if his last opponent hadn't entered the tournament he would have won. "I was the only trainer there that even managed to take out his Darkrai, therefore I was the second strongest trainer there. I would have won." At one point Ash had even voiced these thought to Prof. Oak, the professor only told him that thinking like that would only prevent him from moving forward as a trainer.

Legendaries were infuriating. How many times had they caused trouble for Ash? Ever since the beginning of his journey, legendaries had been running amuck. Sometimes on instinct other times after being provoked by humans, either way Ash had had more than his fair share of troubles due to these so called legendary pokémon. And now this. Why, why did this loss hurt so much? Ash had suffered losses before, and always he had been able to learn something from them but this time it seemed impossible to take anything from this loss except anger. Anger at the rules, anger at his opponent, anger himself, even anger at pokémon.

"This is so annoying. I've had losses but I also had a lot of great victories. All my gym battles, the Orange League, the Battle Frontier…" Ash stopped muttering to himself, he started thinking fast. The Battle Frontier! Why hadn't he thought of that before? He had battled plenty of legendaries on that journey, an Articuno at the Battle Factory, not mention the Legendary Golems against Brandon at the Battle Pyramid. It wasn't as if these legendaries were unbeatable, it just took the right amount of experience. He hadn't beat Brandon on his first try, but he had won in the end, so what did those losses matter? "That's what I have to do"

Ash got up and dusted himself off, Pikachu looked up wondering what Ash up to. Allowing Pikachu to climb on his shoulder Ash began to walk back toward Prof. Oak's lab, he had to talk with the professor and his mother about his new plans for the next part of his journey. He knew he wouldn't tell them all his plans, but he at least had to tell them that he would be gone for awhile again training, and that they didn't need to worry, the usual talk. As he continued to walk, Ash thought about what pokémon he would bring with him, that was always the hardest part in a journey. Of course he would bring Pikachu but after that it was always a hard decision. He would bring Sceptile, Ash knew he would want to battle a lot now after his loss against Latios. Gible would come too, he didn't have as much experience as some of the other pokémon, but he had a lot of potential. Buizel also had a lot of potential and Ash wanted to have a pokémon with as much passion for battling as Buizel along with him. After Cyndaquil had evolved into Quilava Ash hadn't been able to battle with him much, now seemed as good a time as ever to see how far he had come. That still left one spot open, but that was always the hardest spot to fill. At this point Ash looked up and found that he was already at the lab, he walked in and called out, announcing his presence.

Walking into the living area of the lab, Ash found Tracey with his Marill looking over notes on pokémon feeding, Prof. Oak was sitting in another chair critiquing some of Tracey's pokémon sketches. "You're sketches keep improving Tracey," the professor said without looking up, "This one captures the intimidation that Gyardos radiate, it would probably even scare a young pokémon." Prof. Oak set aside the sketch book looked u up. "Oh Ash, I'm sorry I heard you come in, but I was busy," Standing he continued to talk, "you're just on time for lunch." Ash smiled, talking about the next step in his journey could wait until after lunch.

Ash walked into the dining room and was slightly surprised to see his mother setting out a meal. Looking up Delia smiled at him, "Hello Ash dear, I was hoping you would join us today. Are you alright dear? You look like you have something on your mind." Ash hid his surprise at how easily his mom was able to read him, but simply responded that there was something he needed to tell everyone. Sitting down to lunch Ash tried to find the best time to and way to tell everyone his new plans. Zoning out while listening to Oak ramble on about new research being done on Ditto and its transforming abilities, Ash came back to attention when he heard the professor addressing him.

"Ash, it has been awhile since you have seen any new Pokémon," Oak was speaking in a serious way, Ash knew the professor was trying to encourage him continue toward his goals instead of continuing to mope. In the terms that Ash would use, he should get off his butt and get to work. "I think that you should go travel for awhile, perhaps not out of Kanto but at least Pallet Town, you should spend time with your pokémon. I know that your loss has hit you hard but you need to use that experience to improve, for both yourself and your pokémon ."

"Actually professor, that was what I wanted to talk to all of you about," Ash said looking at everyone, "I've decided that I'm going to go on a training journey, I'm going to stay in Kanto but I plan to go train with my pokémon, we're going to get our confidence back." Ash saw that Prof. Oak and his mother were visibly relieved, probably happy that he was starting to get back to his old self. "I plan to leave tomorrow morning I'll be taking, Pikachu, Gible, Sceptile, Buizel, and Quilava with me, I'm not sure who will be my sixth pokémon but I'm sure I'll figure that out before I leave."

"Well dear I'm sure you know what you're doing," Delia began, "I hope you and your pokémon find what your confidence, and come home safely."

"Yes Ash I'm happy to hear you made your decision," Oak said, "And don't worry, you can count on Tracey and I to take care of your other pokémon you leave in Pallet Town." Ash looked around at his friends and family, he suddenly felt like telling them the rest of his plans but restrained himself, instead he just decided to thank them.

"Thanks everyone, and don't worry mom I'll come home safely, I don't know when but I will." The rest of the meal was normal, Oak continued his to give speeches on various species of pokémon, Tracey took notes, and Delia kept insisting Ash eat more.

The next morning came and Ash was once again standing at the front of Oak's lab, he was ready to go, except that he hadn't been able to select a sixth pokémon. He had his five pokémon with him and was trying to think fast to figure out what pokémon he should take. After thinking for fifteen minutes and being unable to decide what pokémon to bring Ash decided to just take five pokémon for the time being, and have a sixth sent over latter.

After the usual goodbyes with his family and friends, his mother reminding him to change his underwear every day, Oak and Tracey wishing him luck Ash began to leave. Hearing a sudden cry he turned around to see his Bayleef charging toward him. Ash braced himself as Bayleef jumped on him knocking him over. He couldn't help but smile as his old friend rubbed its head against him affectionately.

"Oh Bayleef, I guess you haven't come with me in a long time huh?" Ash made his decision of who to bring with him, turning toward the lab he called, "Hey Tracey could you get me Bayleef's pokeball? I've found the sixth member of my party." Tracey disappeared into the lab and quickly returned with the pokeball, after wishing Ash luck one last time Ash turned and began walking away again, this time without interruption.

On the outskirts of Pallet Town Ash started thinking about what was ahead of him. He was going to have to train hard if he wanted to avoid a loss like the one he faced at the Sinoh League, it might not be easy but then maybe it wouldn't be worth it.

"There are only two ways to beat a legendary pokémon," Ash said to himself, "One, be so strong that even they can't stand up to you. Or two have the experience that you know what to expect, and you don't give into the pressure. And that's where this training comes in. It's time to hunt some legendaries!"

Ash Ketchem had officially started the next part of his journey.


	2. Finding Opponents

Ash walked along the familiar road leading from Pallet Town to Viridian City. Having walked the same path several times Ash found himself deep in thought of planning his next move. He realized that if he did plan to stay in Kanto it would be difficult to advance very far in terms of experience battling the legendary pokémon. It was fairly common knowledge that Kanto was home to only a few legendary pokémon, the bird trio, mew had been found before, and its clone Mewtwo was rumored to be roaming Kanto somewhere. Ash had decided however that he wouldn't try to take on Mewtwo, he was rumored to be one of the most intelligent of pokémon and it wouldn't be a good idea to charge in recklessly. On very rare occasions Latios and Latias had been sighted in Kanto.

"If I get any leads on Latios, it will be the first Pokémon I go after," Ash said to himself angrily. "It would be like getting a rematch for my last battle in the Sinnoh League." Ash jumped as Pikachu spoke to him in his pokémon dialect. Turning his head to look at Pikachu, Ash saw concern in his pokémon's eyes, and felt immediately guilty. "I'm sorry Pikachu, I know I've been ignoring you… and just about everyone lately. You know it was hard to have come to so far and loose in the end." Ash paused as the guilt of how he had treated everyone around him over the past several weeks sunk in. "I know I can't just apologize for all that, but that's why we have to go on this next journey, to get stronger and gain experience, so we don't have to go through losses like that anymore."

Pikachu responded with a tone that let Ash know he was forgiven, he felt better. Ash smiled as he realized that the spot where he had just made up with Pikachu in the same place where at the beginning of his journey he and Pikachu had first learned to trust each other, the same place where they had been attacked by a group of wild Spearow and Pikachu had fried Misty's bike. That was another thing Ash had to consider, did he want to bring any of his old friends with him? Sure his friends were busy, Brock was studying to be a doctor and Misty was a gym leader, but they would probably be willing to travel with him at least for awhile. Maybe he shouldn't ask Misty, if she did come her sisters would have to watch the Cerulean City gym and that wouldn't end well. Ash smiled when he thought back to when Misty was traveling with him on her way back to Cerulean City and her sisters called asking if they could just give out badges because there were too many challengers waiting to battle her, Misty had been going crazy trying to stop her sisters. No he probably wouldn't ask his friends to come along.

Traveling companions aside Ash had realized that he had made the mistake of simply charging headfirst into his plans. He didn't know how to find the legendary pokémon. Sure he had encountered plenty of them throughout his journey, but most of the time it was by chance or he had been traveling with people who had been searching for them and knew where to look. But Ash didn't know where to look, and he didn't have any leads. There must be someone or something that could give him information on where to find the legendary pokémon. Then again asking for help from other people may not be the best idea, the idea of hunting the legendary pokémon would probably be a sensitive and controversial idea. Still there must be someone, maybe even someone that Ash knew, he just had to think.

Ash realized there was someone that knew a lot about legendary pokémon, someone he had battled before and only beaten after several tries, Brandon the Pyramid King of the Battle Frontier. Why hadn't he thought of Brandon before? Brandon had managed to capture the legendary golems, re-battling him would give Ash a lot of valuable experience and it would be much easier than trying to track down wild legendaries. The only problem with challenging Brandon was the last time Ash had heard, Brandon was in Sinnoh guarding the Snow Point Temple where Regigigas was resting, but he could return to Kanto for a short time Ash was sure.

"Well Pikachu, what do you think about battling Brandon again?" Pikachu looked at Ash with interest, he clearly thought that battling Brandon would be interesting. "Of course we would need to contact Brandon, and the best way to do that is by contacting Scott first. Pikachu it's time to look up an old friend."

A short time later Ash was entering Viridian City. He smiled as he looked around the familiar city, the Pokémon Center, the city's gym, the city defiantly had a lot of memories in it. After pausing for a few more moments Ash turned and began walking toward the Pokémon Center, upon walking in he was greeted by the local Nurse Joy, he simply responded that he needed to use a phone. Upon finding the phones Ash dialed Scott's number, and waited for the lines to connect and Scott's picture to come into focus.

"Oh hiya Ash!" Scott said, "What's up? I haven't heard from you in awhile"

"Hi Scott," Ash replied, "it has been awhile, but I was wondering if you could get in contact with Brandon for me, I wanted to have another battle with him."

"With Brandon? Ah that's right he's in Sinnoh right now, but where are you calling from?

"Viridian city, I just came from Pallet Town."

"Viridian? Tell you what, I'll try to get in contact with Brandon, if he agrees to temporarily return to Kanto we'll all meet up outside Viridian, OK?"  
"Thanks Scott, I look forward to seeing you Brandon. Bye for now." Ash hung up the phone and sat for a moment, then he turned to Pikachu. "Well Pikachu, looks like we might have a big battle coming up, what do you say we get some practice in?" Pikachu nodded happily and followed Ash out of the Pokémon Center. They were heading toward the battle park in the center of the city, it was a place where several trainers of varying rank and experience gathered to battle. Ash hadn't gone there before but he knew that it was a good place to practice battling.

As he approached the Battle Park Ash could hear the shouts of excitement and frustration of battles that were in progress. The Battle Park was made up of ten different battle rings with bleachers on either end of park for spectator viewing. Ash climbed the bleachers, he had decided that he was going to watch the battles that were in progress to find an opponent. Sitting down he began to watch as many battles as he could (not exactly easy with ten battles happening at once). One battle caught his eye, the battle taking place in the ring in the top left corner closest to Ash. It was a battle between two young trainers, the trainer who was controlling the battle was battling with a Rhyhorn, while his opponent was battling with a Jolteon.

The trainer with the Rhyhorn was attacking fiercely, using a mud shot attack repeatedly but the Jolteon was avoiding each attack using agility. It wasn't hard to see how Jolteon was at a disadvantage, it couldn't use any of its electric attacks on Rhyhorn because its ground attribute would simply nullify them. The trainer and his Rhyhorn made a mistake, using too many attacks back to back was wearing him out, in a brief pause between attacks the other trainer his Jolteon took their chance and broke through. Jolteon unleashed a barrage of double kick attacks, they took their toll fast and Rhyhorn was knocked back. Seeing victory in sight the trainer ordered Jolteon to use hyper beam, his opponent screamed at Rhyhorn to dodge but it was too late. The attack hit and Rhyhorn went down and the Jolteon and its trainer had won, and Ash had found his opponent.


	3. A Battle Gone Wrong

Ash ran down from the bleachers toward the trainer with the Jolteon, he was excited with the possibility of battling a trainer that was able to win a come from behind fight like this trainer had. He hadn't had a battle in awhile and now that he was finally getting back on track as trainer he was itching for a good battle.

"Hey you!" Ash yelled to the trainer as he approached ring, "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and I challenge you to a battle!" The trainer looked at Ash like he was sizing him up.

"I'm Simon from Ecruteak City in the Johto region," the trainer said, "and I accept your challenge!" Ash and Simon agreed to have a one on one battle, and Ash took his place at the end of ring. Ash had decided which pokémon he was going to use, he reached for Gible's pokeball.

"Gible, I choose you!" Ash yelled as he threw the pokeball into the battle ring.

"Lucario, let's win this!" Simon threw a pokeball, and a Lucario entered the ring and struck an immediate battle stance. Ash could tell at just a glance that Simon must have trained his Lucario well, and he knew that this battle would be the exciting battle he had hoped for.

Simon and Lucario immediately launched a signature aura sphere attack, and Ash ordered Gible to dodge and counter using dig. Lucario managed to avoid the attack easily and attacked using bone rush Ash saw that there was no way to dodge the attack so he ordered Gible to intercept with rock smash. The attacks collided but rock smash wasn't enough to stop bone rush and Gible was knocked back.

"There's our opening Lucario," Simon yelled, "Use dragon pulse!" Ash desperately ordered Gible to doge the attack, but Gible was still recovering from the last attack, dragon pulse hit and dealt a lot of damage. Simon smirked. Ash was stunned, and then furious. So Simon thought that he was he was better did he? It was still early in the battle, and after his last battle with the Rhyhorn he should know that a battle can change course at the last minute. That cockiness was going to be Simon's downfall. Ash waited until Simon ordered Lucario to use bone rush again and at the last second ordered Gible to use dig, it worked, Lucario wasn't able to recover from the missed attack on time and Gible dealt a devastating blow. But Ash didn't stop there he ordered Gible to use a barrage of rock smash attacks, Lucario went down hard and it was likely that he wouldn't be able to continue. Ash didn't care.

In fact seeing Lucario go down only made Ash want to hurt Simon, and to do that he would hurt Lucario. Ignoring everything Ash continued to order Gible to use rock smash, and Gible being the dedicated pokémon that he was obeyed with only the slightest hesitation. There were noises like shouts and screams, but they sounded so far off that Ash ignored them, Gible continued to use rock smash. Deciding that rock smash had been used enough Ash ordered Gible to use dragon pulse, Gible leapt into the air and was charging up a dragon pulse attack, he was about to unleash it a few more moments …

"STOP!" Ash was startled but Simon's scream. He looked up and saw that Simon was crying in distress, there was not a hint of arrogance about him anymore. Then Ash saw Lucario. Wait, there was no way that Gible's attacks could do that much damage! This pokémon didn't look anything like how it had at the beginning of the battle; it couldn't be a threat to anyone like this. The Lucario 's body was mangled nearly beyond recognition, it looked like just about every bone in its body was broken and forced out of place. Lucario looked like it would die if it took any attack, and Gible was about to unleash his dragon pulse.

"Gible, stop!" Ash yelled. Gible unleashed its attack into the sky. "Good job Gible, return." After Gible returned to his pokeball Ash began to look around, all the other battles in the Battle Park had ceased and all the trainers and even the pokémon were looking at Ash in hoer. He didn't know how to react so he did the simplest thing that came to mind, turning around and walking back to the Pokémon Center. No one tried to stop him, some people even steeped out of the way to avoid him. As they were nearing the Pokémon Center Ash noticed Pikachu. Pikachu was looking at Ash with sadness and confusion in his eyes, that made Ash feel even worse than seeing Lucario had.

"Look Pikachu I know I got carried away," Ash said awkwardly, "but I was just trying to win the battle. Nothing like this will ever happen again." Pikachu continued to look at Ash with confusion, but some of the sadness was gone, Pikachu simply nodded and they kept walking. Ash said that to reassure himself as well as Pikachu, he didn't know what had come over him, but he didn't quite regret his behavior. Sure he had ordered Gible to hurt Lucario but all he had done what he had to, to win the battle. All Ash really wanted to do right now was get back to the Pokémon Center and away from anyone else, the best option was to just try to forget about what had happened.

"Oh Ash I've been wondering where you were," Ash looked up to see it was Nurse Joy who had spoken to him. "You have a call waiting for you, from Scott." Ash thanked Nurse Joy and moved to the area where the phones were located. Sitting himself at the nearest phone he dialed in and waited for the call to come through.

"Hiya Ash," Scott's picture cam into focus, "I've got good news, I talked to Brandon and he said he would be willing to come to Kanto for a few days to have a battle with you. At the rate the Battle Pyramid can fly he'll be outside Viridian in two days, you think you'll be ready for the battle then?"

"Yeah Scott," Ash replied, "Two days is more than enough time to prepare."

"All right Ash, I'll see you in two days then." Scott's expression changed to one of concern, "Are you alright Ash? You look like something's bothering you." Ash took a moment before responding.

"Yeah I'm fine, something happened today during a battle, but me and my pokémon are fine. So don't worry you'll see a great battle in two days."

"All right then, just remember I'm going to hold you to that promise. See ya around Ash." Scott hung up and the line went dead and Ash hung up his phone.

He hadn't lied, that was the truth, he was fine. One freak incident didn't mean there was anything wrong. What Ash had to focus on right now was his battle with Brandon, this battle was the first step to his goal of being able to take on legendaries without difficulty. The best thing for him to do was get some rest, he was going to have some hard training ahead of him the next two days. He went to the rooms in the back of the Pokémon Center which were for trainers to spend nights. After finding an unreserved room Ash got into bed and tried to get some sleep. Sleep didn't come fast, he kept seeing Lucario's mangled body, every time that happened all he could do was insist there was nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all.


	4. Rematch With Golems

The two days of waiting for Brandon and the Battle Pyramid to arrive Ash spent in training, solitary training. After the incident with Simon and his Lucario, Ash didn't want to risk things getting out of hand again, instead he spent his training time with his pokémon outside Viridian City, just him and his pokémon. His pokémon were defiantly making progress, but it was more satisfying to see that Gible was not suffering in any way from his last battle. Ash regretted not being able to have a battle with another trainer but he knew he shouldn't take too many risks, especially with an important battle coming up. Ash had planned to use Bayleef, Pikachu, and Quilava in his battle.

Bayleef would need to take on Regirock, not only did Bayleef have the type advantage but she had passion and knew how to not give up. Quilava had a type advantage over both Registeel and Regice, and from the training that they had been doing Ash had seen that Quilava would be able to hold his own. Finally Pikachu could pull through for the team, he had defiantly learned something from all the battles they had been through. Regardless of what had happened recently one thing had not changed, Ash's trust in his pokémon.

The day of Ash's battle with Brandon finally arrived, for Ash those two days of waiting felt like two weeks. Ash stood at the edge of Viridian City, in those last two days he had done all he could to prepare Pikachu, Bayleef, and Quilava, that training would have to be enough for now. Ash needed to win this battle, he didn't know what he would do if he lost, loosing would only set him back further, and that was something he couldn't afford.

A jeep came barreling up the road, Ash looked up in surprise and then smiled, he would recognize who it was anywhere, after all only Scott would drive like that. The jeep screeched to a halt next to Ash and Scott looked over at him.

"Hiya Ash," he said smiling widely, "it's good to see you after all this time. So tell me, are you ready for your battle?" Ash put on a confident smile.  
"I sure am, Scott. Brandon better look out today, me and my pokémon put in some tough training just for this."

"Ha that's what I like to hear," Scott said, "you better be careful though Ash, Brandon sure hasn't been slacking off either."

"What, does he have Reigigigas on his team now or something?" Ash asked jokingly, but in the back of his mind it was an honest inquiring question.

"Ha, no as far as I know Regigigas is still asleep in the Snow Point Temple," Scott laughed, "That would be something though wouldn't it? Just think what Brandon would be like if he had the leader of the legendary golems on his team."

"Yeah that would defiantly be a battle to remember," Ash said smiling, but he was thinking to himself, "_If he had Regigigas on his time I could battle it, I can't now if I stay in Kanto."_

"Well regardless of what pokémon Brandon has I hope you give us a spectacular battle. Speaking of which Brandon and the Battle Pyramid should arrive any minute now, so tell me what pokémon do you plan to use."

"Bayleef, Quilava, and Pikachu, they have been with me for a long time and I know I can count on them."

"Oh that will be interesting," Scott said enthusiastically, he loved seeing trainers battle with different pokémon. "I've never seen you battle with your Bayleef or Quilava. Are you sure that they are up for a battle of this caliber?"

"Yes," Ash said with complete confidence, "We have worked long and hard together and they have helped me get out of plenty of bad situation, we'll win this battle for sure."

"Good, that's the attitude to have. Oh but it looks like we'll find out how you'll do soon enough, look." Scott pointed upward.

Looking in the direction Scott was pointing Ash saw what he had been waiting for, the Battle Pyramid was approaching. The massive battle facility was flying through the air using its four giant turbine engines, halting in mid air the pyramid slowly began to descend in the clearing where Ash had been told his battle would take place. Seeing the pyramid made Ash's heart start to race, in a few moments he would have one of toughest and most important battles in his journey. Winning or losing, either way Ash would gain valuable experience for battling legendary pokémon, but winning would make himself and his pokémon stronger where as loosing would destroy their confidence. Ash pushed those thoughts out of his head, thinking like that would only hinder his battling. He took a deep breath and began to walk toward the Battle Pyramid, there was no use worrying so he might as well just go for it, like he usually did.

Ash approached that entrance to the Battle Pyramid as it touched down, the door opened when he stood in front of it. Ash had been in the Battle Pyramid enough times to know his way around so without hesitation he headed straight for the battle field. As soon as he reached the field he stood and waited for Brandon and quickly reviewed in his mind the various attack combinations and strategies that he had planned out for this battle. Concentrating on his thoughts, Ash didn't notice Scott standing next to him.

"Whoa Ash where's the fire?" Scott asked with amusement, "I know you're anxious to battle Brandon, but hey you can't do that if until he gets here right?

"Yeah I guess that's true," Ash responded, "I'm just really excited for this battle."

"Well that's good," Someone approaching the battle field said, "I'd hate to think I came all the way back to Kanto for a battle that someone couldn't even appreciate." Ash and Scott turned to Brandon and his assistant approaching walking in.

"Hi Brandon," Ash said excitedly, "It's been awhile hasn't it? Are you as excited for this battle as I am?" Brandon gave a small smile.

"It has been awhile. And," he took his place at the edge of the battle field, "yes I am looking forward to our battle."

"In that case let's get this show on the road!" Scott said, he was obviously psyched to see another battle between Ash and Brandon, of course all their battles in the past had never been disappointing, so everyone was expecting a excellent battle. Brandon's assistant, who would be refereeing the battle, went over the rules of the battle. It would be a three on three battle with only Ash being allowed to make substitutions. After the trainers said they were ready the signal to begin the battle.

"Regirock, I am in need of your assistance!" Brandon yelled as he threw a pokeball onto the field, and his Regirock appeared, it looked as strong as it had last time, maybe even stronger.

"Bayleef, come on out!" Ash hurled Bayleef's pokeball onto the field and Bayleef appeared, crying out with excitement for being able to be in a real battle in a long time.

Brandon ordered Regirock to use hyper beam, but Ash had Bayleef easily avoid the attack by leaping into the air with vine whip. While Bayleef was still airborne Ash ordered her to use razor leaf and Bayleef attacked fiercely, unable to move fast enough due to have just used hyper beam Regirock took the hit.

"Ash, it is clear that you have not neglected your training since our last battle," Brandon said risking a short pause in the battle. "But now I know just how seriously I need to take this battle. Regirock, lock-on!"

Bayleef was unable to move fast enough to avoid Regirock's lock-on, knowing that the next attack would hit regardless of anything they tried Ash told Bayleef to brace herself. Regirock launched another hyper beam attack which crashed into Bayleef and caused a lot of damage. Regardless of a hit or not Regirock still wouldn't be able to move for a short amount of time, seizing the opportunity Ash ordered Bayleef to use body slam and Bayleef slammed into Regirock with as much force as she could. The attack didn't do much damage but it did knock Regirock back and that had been what Ash had been planning, just recovering from the effects of hyper beam and now having been further disoriented by being hit by body slam Regirock was in a bad position, and Ash knew exactly what he would do next.

"Bayleef, use vine whip to sweep Regirock's legs!" Ash yelled, he was getting excited, the battle was going his way. Bayleef again gathered all the strength she could and struck Regirock's legs with a vine whip attack, and Regirock toppled over leaving it completely vulnerable. Playing out the rest of the plan Bayleef used razor leaf continuously, and Regirock took noticeable damage.

"That was very resourceful Ash," Brandon complimented, "However you're mistaken if you think that Regirock and I will go down so easily. Regirock, use stone edge!" Regirock gathered its strength and unleashed a massive stone edge attack and the sharp stones went flying, the attack blocked the remaining bits of Bayleef's razor leaf and the other stones struck Bayleef and sent her flying to the across the battle field. "Now use focus punch, Regirock!"

Focusing its power into its arm Regirock struck Bayleef and she was once again sent flying back. Bayleef struggled to get back up but fell to the ground.

"Bayleef!" Ash shouted, "Get up! Don't you dare loose now after everything you've done!"

"Bayleef is unable to battle!" the referee began, "therefore the winner is…." The referee stopped in the middle of his judgment, and everyone's eyes were on Bayleef. Bayleef had stumbled back to her feet, and had begun to glow, that unmistakable glow that could only mean one thing, evolution. Bayleef grew taller and the buds around her neck blossomed, Bayleef had evolved into Meganium. And re-spirited by her evolution Meganium jumped back into the battle.

Meganium used a new attack, it was a massive attack that enveloped Regirock and was clearly doing devastating damage, Ash recognized the attack petal dance. Now with Meganium ready to battle, Ash was ready too. Ash ordered Meganium to use vine whip, but Brandon ordered Regirock to defend itself with focus punch, Regirock swatted away the vine whip with the gathered energy in its arm. Brandon and Regirock immediately followed up with a stone edge attack, Ash ordered Meganium to dodge the attack using vine whip to leap into the air but Meganium was hit. Brandon ordered Regirock to use focus punch, and Regirock charged forward.

Ash's mind began to race. It was very likely that if Meganium used petal dance Regirock wouldn't be able to land a hit with focus punch. However petal dance was an attack that caused the attacker to become confused if used too long. Regirock was approaching fast and with how tough the battle had been Meganium probably couldn't take another strong attack. The options weren't good, petal dance was probably the only attack Meganium could use fast enough to defend, but if she became confused that would probably cause them to lose anyway. Ash didn't have time to way his options anymore, Regirock was closing in on Meganium, this was a risk he had to take.

"Meganium, use petal dance!" Ash yelled at the top of his voice. Meganium unleashed a storm of petals upon Regirock, and it was knocked backwards with the focus punch negated. Meganium continued to use petal dance and Brandon tried to have Regirock defend with stone edge but it was no good, Meganium's attack was just too big. Suddenly the attack stopped and Ash realized his fear had come true, Meganium had become confused because of her own attack! But then Ash realized that in his panic there was one possibility that he hadn't taken into account.

"Regirock is unable to battle!" The referee announced at the top of his voice, "This round goes to Ash Ketchum and Meganium!" Ash could hardly believe what had just happened, they had been so close to losing the round, but Meganium had come through at the last minute. Ash just wanted to celebrate, but the battle was far from over, next came Registeel or Regice. Whichever Brandon chose he would be ready.

"Regirock return," Brandon said as Regirock was retracted into its pokeball. "Thank you Regirock you did very well. Well Ash you've made it this far I'm afraid I can't let that continue. Registeel, I am in need of your assistance!" Brandon hurled a pokeball onto the field and his Registell materialized.

"Meganium , return!" Ash yelled Meganium was retracted into her pokeball. "You did well, Meganium, you had me nervous there for awhile but it's over now." Ash looked up to speak directly to Brandon, "Sorry Brandon I'm afraid that I can't lose, especially to a legendary pokémon. Go, Quilava." Quilava sprung from the pokeball and lit the flames on his back. Quilava and Registeel began to stare each other down (at least Quilava was, it was hard to tell what Registeel was doing) it seemed they were just as excited for this battle as their trainers were. As soon as the referee gave the signal the second heated battle was off to an immediate start.

"Registeel, use iron head!" Brandon yelled, and Registeel launched itself at Quilava.

"Quilava, dodge with quick attack but stay close!" Ash ordered. Quilava ducked under Registeel, but stayed close as Ash had told him to. "Now that you're close, use eruption!" Quilava launched a jet of fire from his back, the flames hit Registeel with enough force to send it flying into the air. Now that Registeel was seemingly defenseless Ash ordered Quilava to use flamethrower.

"Registeel, counter with hyper beam!" Brandon ordered. The hyper beam that Registeel used ripped through Quilava's flamethrower and hit Quilava.

Quilava driven into the ground by the attack. Had the attack missed Ash would take advantage of Registeel's temporary immobility, but Quilava was struggling back to his feet, even so Ash ordered him to use flamethrower again. Brandon told Registeel to counter with flash canon, but luck seemed to be on Ash and Quilava's side and flamethrower hit before Registeel had time to use its attack. While Registeel was still recovering Ash reused his first combination having Quilava get in close with quick attack and then attacking with eruption, and once again Registeel was launched into the air. Ash decided to risk using another flamethrower attack, despite what had happened before, and Quilava fired the inferno.

This time however Brandon ordered Registeel to use lock on and the attack hit Quilava. Ash realized that wasn't much better, after all now any attack would hit, Brandon might as well have used another hyper beam. Seeing that nothing he did to defend would work Ash ordered Quilava to continue using flamethrower. Brandon ordered Registeel to use iron head, and Registeel began to plummet toward Quilava. Ash began to panic Registeel wasn't the heaviest pokémon in the world but it was over 400 pounds and all that weight hurtling toward Quilava would deal massive damage. There might be one way to avoid taking all the damage.

"If you can launch him into the air, you can slow him down Quilava!" Ash yelled, "Use eruption!" Quilava launched the inferno from his back and hit Registeel, Registeel continued falling at an alarming rate, but he was visibly slowing down. "Come on Quilava give it your all!" Quilava gathered all the strength he could and launched it all at Registeel. Registeel slowed down but he was still coming, and then finally all 451 pounds hit Quilava. Quilava and Registeel stood up and stayed standing for moment and then both fell to the ground.

"Both Registeel and Quilava are unable to battle!" the referee announced, "This round is a draw." Brandon and Ash recalled their pokémon.

"Thank you Registeel that was an excellent battle"

"That was close Quilava." Ash's voice dropped to a whisper, "If only you had given it a little more."

"On to the final round," Brandon shouted, "Regice I am in need of your assistance." Brandon threw the pokeball onto the field and Regice appeared.

"All right Pikachu it's your turn now." Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and ran onto the battle field. _"Pikachu needs to win this battle," _Ash thought to himself, _"Meganium is already severely weakened from her battle with Regirock, and we would be at a severe disadvantage if she had to battle Regice." _The battle was immediately off to an exciting start.

"Regice cover the field with blizzard!" Brandon ordered. Regice immediately launched a blizzard all over the battle field and the field was completely frozen over, however because of how spread out the attack was Pikachu suffered little damage. The attack may not have hurt Pikachu, but with the field frozen over Pikachu wouldn't be able to move around without difficulty. To solve that problem Ash did the first thing that came to mind.

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt on the battle field!" Pikachu used a full power thunderbolt onto the field which cleared the center of the field of ice.

Brandon ordered Regice to use zap cannon, Ash didn't understand why Brandon would use an electric attack on Pikachu, but Ash ordered Pikachu to counter with iron tail. Pikachu swatted the attack with iron tail, but as soon as he was he was left open from using an attack Brandon ordered Regice to use hyper beam. The hyper beam hit Pikachu and sent him flying out of the rind and crashing into the wall. Despite having taken a lot of damage Pikachu jumped back to his feat still clearly ready to battle. Ash ordered Pikachu to use volt tackle and Pikachu charged forward surrounded by an electric field and slammed into Regice while it was still immobilized. Regice was sent flying back and this time it was the one that hit the wall.

"Don't give up Regice," Brandon encouraged, "Use ice beam!" Regice fired an ice beam attack at Pikachu but Ash ordered Pikachu to dodge and get in close using quick attack and then use iron tail. Pikachu got in close and struck Regice with iron tail, Regice reeled backwards in pain. Ash then ordered Pikachu to use volt tackle again, and again Pikachu hit Regice, and Ash ordered Pikachu to follow up with iron tail. Brandon ordered Regice to defend with zap cannon but before Regice could launch the attack Pikachu hit with iron tail. After being hit Regice stood for a moment, and then fell to the ground.

"Regice is unable to battle!" the referee shouted, "The winners of this battle are Pikachu and Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" Ash breathed a sigh of relief, most of the plans and strategies he had decided to use had been successful, and they had won the battle.

"Well done Ash," Brandon said as he walked toward Ash, "That was an excellent battle, one of the best I've had in a long time."  
"Yeah Ash," Scott said also walking toward Ash, "I really enjoyed watching that, ha there were defiantly some nail biting moments in there, I gotta admit though I've rarely seen anyone beat Brandon without losing a single round."

"Yeah that was defiantly one of the best battles I've ever fought." Ash agreed, "Thanks a lot for the battle, Brandon it was just the battle I was looking for.:

"I enjoyed it as well Ash," Brandon said giving one of his rare smiles, "I may just have to come back from Sinnoh to have another battle with you in the future."

"Ha I'll have to come see that battle," Scott said, "You know Ash last time I asked you if you would become a Frontier Brain you turned down the offer, I don't suppose you've changed your mind?"

"Sorry Scott," Ash said smiling, "I've still got other things I want to do on my journey before I try anything like being a Frontier Brain."

"Ha alright Ash, but then what are you off to do next?" Ash paused a moment before answering.

"Me and my pokémon are going to travel around Kanto for awhile, and we plan to have more big battles ahead of us."

"That should have been the answer I'd expect," Scott said chuckling, "Well if you need help with anything just give me a call."

Ash thanked Scott and Brandon for the battle, they both wished him good luck and he left the Battle Pyramid. Ash was heading for the Pokémon Center, he needed to get his pokemon treated and he was going to stay in Viridian City one more night before moving on. Nurse Joy greeted Ash as he walked in, he asked her to take the three pokémon he had used in his battle and after taking a quick look at them she told him that they would be ready to go in the morning. Thanking his pokémon for their hard work that day Ash headed for the room he had reserved for staying that night. Upon entering his room Ash collapsed on the bad it had been a long day, planning the next step could wait until tomorrow, right now he needed to sleep.


	5. Rumors

Ash woke up early the next morning. Gathering his stuff he went to see Nurse Joy, he picked up his pokémon, who had thankfully all made a complete recovery. After picking up his pokémon up Ash left the pokémon center pausing outside he started to think.

"I seem to be making a lot of split minute decisions on this journey," Ash muttered to himself, "I have no idea where I should go next, you have any ideas Pikachu?" Pikachu shook his head. "Oh well, let's see, the closest town to here is Pewter City, well then should we go there next Pikachu?" Pikachu nodded happily. "Well then that's decided, let's go to Pewter City"

As Ash walked toward the edge of Viridian City he noticed something was off. Out of the corner of his eye he saw people pointing at him and whispering. Deciding to ignore them Ash continued walking, a little faster than he had a moment before, as he was walking Ash walked headlong into a boy appearing to be about his age. Looking up Ash began to apologize, but as soon as he made eye contact the other boy gasped and ran the opposite direction. Startled by the complete strangers reaction Ash looked around confused, then he noticed two teenagers, a boy and a girl both obviously trainers, they were also looking at him and whispering only this time Ash was close enough to hear what was being said.  
"That's the guy," the boy whispered, "he's the one who mutilated Simon's Lucario."

"Really?" the girl said in surprised voice, "Wow, he doesn't look like the type, I heard that that poor Lucario will never be able to use its left arm the same way again." Ash gasped, was that true? Had Lucario really been that badly injured? Apparently the gossip wasn't over though.

"Oh come on," the boy scoffed, "He doesn't look the type? You didn't see him during the battle, if you had you would know that he clearly has a screw loose. Besides didn't you hear? Someone saw him outside the city the other day 'training' he had his pokémon punish torture each other if their attacks didn't reach his standards, you can't say that's not messed up."

Ash could hardly believe his ears. He broke into a run and didn't stop running until he reached the edge of Viridian. Finally pausing he caught his breath, did people really think that he did that? Yes he had… lost control during the battle but he loved his pokémon more than anyone else he had ever met, having them torture each other? That was unthinkable! Ash began to walk again still trying to make sense of what he had just heard. Someone who had seen the battle had probably told their friends, who had told their friends, and the story probably spiraled out of control from there, all he knew was that he wanted to get as far away from those rumors as possible. It's not like they had never made mistakes as trainers, that was part of BEING a trainer, you make mistakes and you learn from them only then can you grow with your pokemon.

"I've met trainers that practically torture their pokemon," Ash muttered to himself, "yeah like Paul. And let me tell you morons I am nothing like him, there are good ways to train pokemon and making them suffer doesn't make that list." Pikachu nodded in agreement, Ash laughed. "Yeah you know buddy, I've made mistakes but we've always gotten through them haven't we? Well all we can do at the moment is continue, so let's go to Pewter City."


	6. Intervention

Scott sat in his hotel room in Viridian City. It had been two days since Ash had left saying that he planned to travel to Pewter City next, Scott had remained in Viridian to catch up with some friends he had in town. After he had spoken to his friends however, Scott's mind had turned to concern, for Ash. He had heard about the battle Ash had had the day before his match against Brandon, with a trainer named Simon and his Lucario. Scott had heard several rumors ranging from the Lucario refusing to battle after the experience, to Lucario needing emergency surgery and dying during the operation. After some digging Scott had managed to get the real story, the Lucario had been severally injured and had to go through emergency surgery. Lucario had lived however it had lost the use of its right arm, as for the rumor of Lucario refusing to battle Scott had discovered that Simon didn't have the heart to make Lucario battle so soon after the experience.

Scott had gone back and forth about what to do. He had seen trainers fall off the deep end before, he didn't usually interfere with trainers besides maybe pointing them in the direction of something like his own Battle Frontier, but Ash had the potential to be an epic trainer and if he got lost he might not find his way back. But what the heck was he supposed to do? Sighing Scoot realized that maybe the reason he didn't usually interfere might be because he wouldn't know how to help anyway. This however was one thing that he wouldn't be able to ignore, walking over to his phone Scott dialed Professor Oak's number. The phone rang a few times and then Scott heard Oak's greating.

"Hello this is Professor Oak from Pallet Town speaking, and who is this?"

"Hi professor, it's Scott"

"Oh hello Scott, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"  
"Well professor…" Scott paused, "I met with Ash the other day in Viridian City, he wanted to re-challenge Brandon and the Battle Pyramid."  
"Oh I see, was it a good battle?"

"Well yes the battle was amazing, but… I heard rumors around town that Ash had been involved in a battle that didn't end well, for the other trainer."

"Scott, what do you mean by that?"

"Professor, I think it's best I tell you about this in person, I can be in Pallet Town tomorrow by noon, and you should probably tell Ash's mom to come too, she should know what he's been up to."

"Very well Scott, we'll meet at my lab tomorrow, and I'll tell Delia to meet us."

"Thanks professor, I'll be there, bye" Scott hung up, leaned back in his chair and sighed. It was a good idea to talk to the professor in person but that only left him with about twenty four hours to figure out what to tell the professor and Delia.

***The Next Day***

Professor Oak stood outside his lab with a very upset Delia Ketchum. For the last hour Delia had been pestering the professor with questions of what it was that Scott wanted to tell them about Ash.  
"I'm sorry Delia," the professor said, "but Scott wouldn't tell me anything, so we'll just have to wait until he gets here." Delia although not happy was silent. Then suddenly Scott's jeep came screaming up the path to the lab, the breaks squealed and Scott jumped out.

"Hi professor, sorry I took so long."

"It's fine Scott, please come inside." Delia and Scott followed the professor into the lab and into the living room, after being seated the professor said, "Alright Scott what is it that you needed to tell us about."

"Well it's not good," Scott began, and then proceeded to tell them everything he knew about what had happened to Ash while he was in Viridian City. "And that's everything I know." Delia and Professor Oak were silent for moment.

"So you mean to tell me," Delia said, "that Ash lost control in a pokemon battle and is now seen as some sort of delinquent?"

"That seems to be the case Ms. Ketchum ," Scott sighed, "I don't know what happened to Ash, but in his battle with Brandon something seemed off and then I heard the rumors so I decided to investigate."

"This is indeed troubling," Professor Oak said, "Ash has been in a rut ever since his hard loss in the Sinnoh League, but I would never have suspected that it would grow into this big a problem."

"Exactly what I thought professor, it's best to do something now before Ash falls off the deep end"

"Hmmm, yes that's true," Oak said slowly, "but what can we do?"  
"Well now that I know what's happened I can't just sit around!" Delia practically yelled, "I need to go help my boy!"

"I don't believe that's a good idea Delia." Professor Oak said.  
"But I have to go!" Delia shouted

"I'm afraid the professor's right Ms. Ketchum," Scott said calmly, "We need to help Ash, but any of us running to him might do more harm than good, every trainer needs to walk their own path."

"But if we can't go ourselves than what can we do?"

"Well…. admit ably that's why I'm here, I don't know what to do but I couldn't just let Ash be lost." Scott however was met with silence.

"I think at this time it would be best for Ash's friends to help him," said the professor at last, "Along his journey Ash has always allowed himself to depend on them and it sounds like he needs to now more than ever." The professor's suggestion was met with approval although somewhat grudgingly from Delia.  
"If I can't go myself I suppose that is for the best," she said "Thank you for telling us all this Scott, now if you'll excuse me I believe if Ash has left Viridian City he will being traveling to Pewter City next, I'm going to call Brock and explain things to him."

"Thank you Delia, that would be excellent," the professor stood up and turned to Scott, "yes thank you for bringing this to our attention Scott."  
"No problem professor, I only hope me doing so can help Ash" Scott said his goodbyes and walked to his jeep. He drove away hoping that his interfiering in Ash's journey would help rather than hurt him.


	7. A Confrontation Between Friends

**A/N: To everyone who's been reading this fan fiction: thank you. Also sorry that my updates have become more sporadic it just kind of happened and unfortunetly is likely to continue. I can assure you though that I will keep updating until this story is complete, I have no intention of leaving this unfinished. Also thank you to everyone who has left reviews they are always appreciated and have been helpful, if you haven't left a review please do that would be way past cool (Sonic reference!). One last time thank you and now the new chapter!**

Ash walked into Pewter City looked around and smiled.

"Look at that Pikachu," he said to his companion, "nothing ever really changes in Pewter City, it's still just a simple city." Pikachu nodded in agreement clearly happy to be back in the hometown of an old friend. "Well then I guess there's only one thing to do, let's go see Brock." Pikachu yelled in delight. Ash began to walk down the path to the Pewter City gym and Brock's house looking around as he did. It was true that nothing ever really changed in Pewter City but that just made memories of the city easier to preserve. He could remember walking down that same path with Misty the first time he had been in the city, and again latter when he had been with Max and May. Those were simpler times, Ash wondered how his friends were doing, it had been awhile since he had spoken to any of them.

As Ash turned down the road to the Pewter City gym he saw Brock's brother forest walking down the same path, he called out to him.

"Ash! What are you doing here?" Forest asked running towards him.

"I decided to go on another journey Pewter City was on my travel route"

"Ah so are you stopping by the gym to see Brock then?" Ash said he was, he and Forest walked to the gym. As they walked they talked about how life at the Gym had been since Forest had taken over as gym leader while Brock focused on studying to be a pokémon doctor. "Being the gym leader is a completely different experience, when you're the one being challenged you see the determination of the other trainer and it's different from other battles because they have more ridding on it."

"I know what you mean," Ash said pausing for a moment, "in the league tournaments both trainers must feel that way, I know I do." The rest of the walk to the gym passed with Forest talking about some of his more memorable gym battles, Ash listened with interest, Forest had a battle style very different from Brock. While Brock preferred to have a balance between attacking and defending, Forest seemed to prefer to take full advantage of his pokémon's high defensive power and attacking once his opponent had worn their selves down.

"Well here we are, come on in" Forest said bringing Ash's attention back to the present as he followed him into the house connected to the gym. "HEY! Brock! Guess who decided to make a surprise visit!"

"Forest! Please keep it down I'm trying to study!" a voice Ash recognized very well called, "If I want any chance to pass the exams next week I need to concentrate."

"Come on Brock this is important, you'll thank me for interrupting you!" they heard Brock answer with consent, he walked into the room asking what was so important, when he saw Ash he smiled widely.  
"Ash! What are you doing in Pewter City?" he asked shaking his hand firmly. "Hi Pikachu how are you?" Pikachu smiled as Brock pet his head the way few people knew how to do properly.  
"I had to stop by and see an old friend didn't I?" Ash said also smiling.

"Well it's great to see you, come on let's go into the gym to talk." Ash smiled knowing that only he and his friends like Brock would think to a pokémon gym to catch up. As they walked into the gym Ash saw that it hadn't changed much since the last time he had been there. The battle field was still covered with boulders to match the rock theme of the gym, thankfully all the 'redecorating' done by Team Rocket by consent of Brock's parents had been undone. Walking up to the stands Brock and Ash sat down.  
"Wow being here brings back memories." Ash said.  
"Yeah it does, I beat you the first time you came here."

"Ha I had just started on my journey, but when I battled you the first time I felt like you must have been one of the strongest trainers in the world."

"You learned that I wasn't pretty fast though didn't you? There have been a lot of amazing battles in all the time we've been traveling together."

"Yeah there have been, there were some great victories," Ash paused, "and some tough losses." Brock paused before he continued.  
"Ash the truth is I expected that you would be stopping here soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Ash, I heard about what happened in Viridian City." Ash felt like he had been punched in the stomach in the stomach when he heard those words, they were the last words he expected to hear while talking to his friend.

"What are you talking about? Nothing happened in Viridian City." Ash said not looking at his friend.

"A Lucario having a crippled arm after battling with you is nothing?" Brock asked with an edge in his voice.

"How did you hear about that?" Ash said beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

"It doesn't matter how I heard about it," Brock answered simply, "I just want to hear your version of what happened." Ash paused before answering.

"I had a big battle coming up, I needed to practice. In the battle with that trainer and his Lucario I lost some control and the Lucario ended up getting injured. That's all I lost control it's not like it's going to happen again."

"You really want to just call this 'you lost control'?" Brock asked with disbelief.

"What else would I call it?" Ash asked becoming angry, "That's what happened, I don't see why I should lie and call it something else to make other people happy."

"Ash what happened there is serious! What happened is one thing, but you're trying to pretend like it didn't happen and not take responsibility for it!"

"Look I know that what happened was horrible," Ash shouted, "and yes… it was my fault. But this kind of thing happens all the time in pokémon battles, it's risk that all pokémon and trainers take when they decide to compete. A lot worse has happened in other battles, pokémon have even died in battles, so why is it suddenly such a big deal when I'm the trainer responsible?!"

"The problem Ash is that a few months ago nothing like this would have happened!" Brock began to shout. "I honestly don't know what to think, you're my friend but I can't just pretend that what I heard didn't happen! How do you think the others would feel? Did you ever think of that?" Brock began to shout louder. "How do you think Max would feel if he heard that his friend who was like a brother to him had knowingly hurt a pokémon? How do you think May would feel if she knew her best friend who had helped her learn a lot of what she knew about pokémon had done something that he always spoke against? How about Dawn if she knew that the friend who helped her perfect many of her contest combinations was becoming like some of the trainers that they always clashed with over morals of being a trainer? And Misty if she saw what her friend who she had stood by for so much of his journey could be becoming? Everything someone does affects at least one other person, did you think of that for even a moment after what happened?!" Ash could only stared at his friend, he felt like he had been slapped in the face several times over. Then he only felt anger and began to shake, he didn't even notice Pikachu backing away ears down clearly nervous (though he shouldn't have worried both Brock and Ash had practically forgotten he was there).

"I thought my friends would stand by me no matter what happened." Ash said coldly. Brock was caught off guard slightly by Ash's comment.

"Ash I'm not saying…" Brock began, but Ash cut him off.  
"I don't believe in harming pokémon, I know what I did wasn't good, I didn't want Gible to cripple that Lucario's arm and when it happened I was more concerned that it might have hurt Gible mentally." Ash paused and then continued with ice in his voice, "You know I love my pokémon but maybe as a team we're too soft, we don't need to injure our opponents but maybe we've been pulling our punches. And another thing, did you guys ever even believe in me as a trainer? You were always correcting me at first and all of a sudden at the Indigo Plateau when you were my coaching corner you didn't try to help like you usually did, maybe that's because you had already decided that I was going to loose."

"Ash you know that's not true." Brock said dismayed.

"Do I?" Ash said, he paused, when he continued some of the coldness in his voice was gone, "Ok yes I know you wouldn't do something like that, and neither would Misty, but you think I haven't been dealing with enough since what happened in that battle? I never thought that my friend would try to lecture me like I was a criminal." Ash stood up and began to walk away, "Come on Pikachu, good bye Brock." Pikachu jumped up on Ash's shoulder but looked sadly at Brock who jumped up.  
"Ash wait," it was like Brock had said nothing, Ash ignored him and kept walking. Brock kept calling after Ash, trying to get him to come back and talk it out but Ash just kept walking. As Ash walked down the road to the Pokémon Center Brock gave up and hung his head in disappointment. "I'm sorry everyone I messed up."

Ash walked into the Pewter City Pokémon Center and asked if they had any rooms empty. As he walked into the room that they told him was available he flopped onto the bed and just laid there only wanting to sleep and forget about what had just happened between him and his long time friend. Pikachu also laid on the bed looking sadly at Ash, his friend, his trainer, Pikachu could only wonder if everything was going to really be alright.

As they drifted to sleep neither Ash nor Pikachu knew that back at the Pewter City Gym Brock was picking up the phone and dialing a certain number. Brock waited for someone on the other line to pick up, becoming nervous when it seemed like no one would answer his call, then he heard a familiar voice great him on the phone.

"Hi Misty, bad news I saw Ash today, I think I made things worse. We need to help him Misty he's our friend and nothing can change that, I just don't know how."


End file.
